Power type Electric Build date 1911 UIC class 2′B+B2′ | Builder Altoona Works AAR wheel arr. 2-B+B-2 | |
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Total produced 66 (in 33 married pairs) | ||
The Pennsylvania Railroad's class DD1 were semi-permanently coupled pairs of third rail direct current electric locomotives built for the railroad's initial New York-area electrification. They operated between Manhattan Transfer and Pennsylvania Station in New York City, and from there to the coach yards at Sunnyside Yard in Queens, New York. Some also operated on the PRR-owned Long Island Rail Road's extensive third rail network. They had a wheel arrangement of 4-4-0+0-4-4 in the Whyte notation; in other words, two 4-4-0 locomotives coupled back-to-back, hence its class letter, as the Pennsylvania listed all 4-4-0s under Class D. In the AAR wheel arrangement notation, this is described as 2B+B2. Each half-locomotive contained one large electric motor mounted in the body and driving via a jackshaft and side rods. Those electric motors gave the DD1 a potential top speed of 85 mph (137 km/h), though PRR/LIRR timetables never allowed more than 65 mph. The simplicity and reliability of these locomotives allowed it to outlast its potential replacement model, the PRR L5.
One pair, Nos. 3936 and 3937, is in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.